Pregame: Illinois vs Alabama, Wednesday, November 19th, 8:00pm CT, FS1

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#228      
Bigtex
jjv0004 said:
Mr prediction is Illinois 94
Bama 86.

I think the difference is Illinois dominating the glass like Purdue did against Bama.
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crazy that your prediction is under the 182 o/u

Looking forward to an entertaining game that in the end, Illinois leaves Chicago 5-0
 
#232      
Second place is 1st loser
Illinisnake said:
I love the optimism, I am still nervous about this game. Watching the MSU game last night showed bigger guys prevailed, that is a large team.
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I'm nervous, partially because we don't know who's actually going to play for us. I'll be there, but overall I think the atmosphere is going to be.....ok. I don't foresee a huge, boisterous, home floor advantage. There's a lot of seats left, which is what happens when you bury a game in the middle of the week with an 8PM tip time.

I think we're more skilled than Bama, but they are a TON more bouncy and athletic. This will be the best that Mirk will have seen. I don't see a ton of production there. Without Tomi.... it'll be tough. Without Tomi AND Z(I have no clue if he's even a question mark, I just read what I see here), we'll have to be shooting the eyes out of the ball.

If Petrovic plays, guessing it will be sparingly. It's a tough ask for him to come in, after all of this time out, and make any sort of meaningful mark on this game, but who knows. This puts more pressure on Wagler, another Freshman.

I stay away from Vegas on this one. If I HAD to put money down, I'd take Bama getting the 3.5 simply because they have less questions than we do.
 
#235      
Fighter of the Nightman
Really nice ticket movement!! Again, to put in perspective...

October 24
United Center - Alabama vs. Illinois (2025.11.19) v1 - 2025.10.24.png


November 17
United Center - Alabama vs. Illinois (2025.11.19) v4 - 2025.11.17 #2.png


November 19 (Today - Game Day)
United Center - Alabama vs. Illinois (2025.11.19) v6 - 2025.11.19.png


I ended up not having time to do too deep of a dive, but I did set up a rudimentary Excel to guess attendance. Basically, I counted individual seats in a few sections (this is very easy to do for just a couple, lol...), and then I made assumptions about what other sections had the same capacity (e.g., the two sections behind either basket are assumed to have identical capacity, but I did not count). Then, it was actually pretty easy to estimate the number of unsold seats by section. My eventual capacity came to 18,806, which is 2,111 short of the actual UC capacity of 20,917. So, you could assume that whatever I didn't count is sold or that my estimate needs to be bumped up by that percent difference, but I'll keep it conservative.

Thus, my final Excel guess as of now ... 16,681 ... plus 3 for us = 16,684. :cool: For visual reference, this was an attendance of 18,136 vs. Auburn in December of 2012:

convert


So in other words, I think the place will look and feel more than full enough to provide a good environment, and bravo to Illini fans for helping move tickets in the last couple of days!!
 
#238      
Fighter of the Nightman
A recap of Illinois' history at the United Center when we have a top 25 ranking next to our name. Year is the season, not the calendar year of the game (e.g., this year is 2026 even though it's still 2025). Threw in attendance for shlts and gigs since it is provided on each Wikipedia page.

Regular Season | 11-3
1996 - W 83-69 vs. Cal (ILL #14) ... 15,046
2000 - L 69-72 vs. #17 Duke (ILL #16) ... 20,143
2000 - W 84-70 vs. #8 Kansas (ILL #20) ... 16,714
2001 - W 81-73 vs. #7 Arizona (ILL #5) ... 21,885
2002 - W 94-91 vs. Arkansas (ILL #5) ... 18,671
2003 - W 70-54 vs. Temple (ILL #15) ... 13,361
2003 - W 73-61 vs. Northwestern (ILL #20) ... 15,429
2004 - W 84-61 vs. Arkansas (ILL #11) ... 15,398
2004 - W 75-60 vs. UIC (ILL #20) ... 15,415
2005 - W 83-66 vs. Oregon (ILL #1) ... 21,224
2006 - W 65-62 vs. Xavier (ILL #12) ... 19,833
2011 - L 54-57 vs. UIC (ILL #12) ... 13,117
2012 - L 48-64 vs. UNLV (ILL #19) ... 15,144
2013 - W 81-79 vs. Auburn (ILL #12) ... 18,136
2026 - vs. #11 Alabama (ILL #8)

Big Ten Tournament | 10-3
1998 - W 66-61 vs. Wisconsin in BTT Quarterfinals (ILL #18) ... 21,711
1998 - L 47-68 vs. #9 Purdue in BTT Semifinals (ILL #18) ... 21,711
2000 - W 72-69 vs. #13 Indiana in BTT Quarterfinals (ILL #21) ... 21,141
2000 - W 94-84 vs. Penn State in BTT Semifinals (ILL #21) ... 22,011
2000 - L 61-76 vs. #5 Michigan State in BTT Championship (ILL #21) ... 19,663
2001 - W 83-66 vs. Purdue in BTT Quarterfinals (ILL #4) ... 22,679
2001 - L 56-58 vs. Indiana in BTT Semifinals (ILL #4) ... 23,418
2003 - W 94-65 vs. Northwestern in BTT Quarterfinals (ILL #13) ... 18,895
2003 - W 73-72 vs. Indiana in BTT Semifinals (ILL #13) ... 20,248
2003 - W 72-59 vs. Ohio State in BTT Championship (ILL #13) ... 17,007
2005 - W 68-51 vs. Northwestern in BTT Quarterfinals (ILL #1) ... 22,413
2005 - W 64-56 vs. Minnesota in BTT Semifinals (ILL #1) ... 23,697
2005 - W 54-43 vs. #23 Wisconsin in BTT Championship (ILL #1) ... 22,157

NCAA Tournament | 2-0
2002 - W 93-64 vs. San Diego State in NCAAT First Round (ILL #13) ... 20,850
2002 - W 72-60 vs. Creighton in NCAAT Second Round (ILL #13) ... 21,525

23-6 with a number next to our name, and two of those losses (2011 vs. UIC and 2012 vs. UNLV) were in years where we subsequently fell out of the top 25 and turned out to not be good, lol. Good Illini teams don't let visitors walk away from our Home Away From Home with a W ... period.

BEAT 'BAMA!
 
#239      
hoopsfan47
jjv0004 said:
Mr prediction is Illinois 94
Bama 86.

I think the difference is Illinois dominating the glass like Purdue did against Bama.
Click to expand...
Certainly a must....but if Bama has some hot streaks from the arc and getting to the glass and finishing with their quickness then there won't be enough rebounds to make a difference. Gotta play defense at an elite level.

We will see if the Illini D can rise to the task....that will be the difference in keeping them from scoring more than we do.
 
#240      
LouHenson
Second place is 1st loser said:
I'm nervous, partially because we don't know who's actually going to play for us. I'll be there, but overall I think the atmosphere is going to be.....ok. I don't foresee a huge, boisterous, home floor advantage. There's a lot of seats left, which is what happens when you bury a game in the middle of the week with an 8PM tip time.

I think we're more skilled than Bama, but they are a TON more bouncy and athletic. This will be the best that Mirk will have seen. I don't see a ton of production there. Without Tomi.... it'll be tough. Without Tomi AND Z(I have no clue if he's even a question mark, I just read what I see here), we'll have to be shooting the eyes out of the ball.

If Petrovic plays, guessing it will be sparingly. It's a tough ask for him to come in, after all of this time out, and make any sort of meaningful mark on this game, but who knows. This puts more pressure on Wagler, another Freshman.

I stay away from Vegas on this one. If I HAD to put money down, I'd take Bama getting the 3.5 simply because they have less questions than we do.
Click to expand...
I just don’t understand this thought that many of us have? Why would it be tough for a 23 year old to play after like 6 weeks off? We act like it is just so impossible? He has been playing high level, pro really, basketball for like 5 years? I just don’t get the I will be shocked if he has an impact?

Tomi? Who knows BU had been purposefully evasive - season “not” ending knee? What is that? Either you have knee damage or you don’t? If your MCL, ACL, PCL are torn you won’t be playing?

BU is simply gaming this entire injury thing. Hopefully with the money in the college game this is not allowed in the future. Why is the NFL injury report so important? Because it is accurate as it must be by rule!
 
#241      
Stripes540
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Big spike for Alabama 20 minutes ago on the betting odds. Anybody know why? Usually bad signs
 
#245      
NarrowJ
LouHenson said:
Tomi? Who knows BU had been purposefully evasive - season “not” ending knee? What is that? Either you have knee damage or you don’t? If your MCL, ACL, PCL are torn you won’t be playing?
Click to expand...

He did say yesterday (maybe day before, lost track) that it is a bone bruise
 
#246      
1m4tr
Just saw the Alabama team get off their bus at the JW Marriott after what I assume was their morning shoot around at the United Center:


I know I know I should have shouted ILL at them.
 
#250      
LouHenson
NarrowJ said:
He did say yesterday (maybe day before, lost track) that it is a bone bruise
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Yes he did, but his injury was like 7 - 10 days ago. They for sure did an MRI, and that pretty much is what drives the bus at that point? I get it, allowing for the sportsmanship? But really, way too much money on the line for that stuff anymore. It really seems sort of “small” given the size of the college game at this point?

JMO, but I really think the college game is heading towards an injury report much like the NFL/NBA
Has? Just too much money on the line.
 
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